The future of gaming?

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The future of gaming?

Post by 3DOKid » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:16 pm

After reading Trips insights into the 3DO, and Edge magazine confirming that the 3DO was indeed (as we all know) the great grand-daddy of gaming as we know it today, it got me wondering - now the dream has been realised, what next?

Let's recap!

Dream 1 of the 1990s
---------------------------

Multimedia of the 1990s: 3DO failed because it crammed so much into one little box. It was pitched as a multimedia device. (CDs, videos, games, pictures... Internet?) and it failed because doing all those things in one box was pretty expensive in 1993 and nobody wanted it. People wouldn't pay a premium for something they all thought was a games console. (Much to Matsushita's and 3DO disgust I would imagine)

2009 reality: PS3 is that multimedia device 3DO dreamt of. And it's failing. Failing because people won't pay a premium for ... yada, yada, yada (history repeats itself)

Dream 2 of the 1990s.
----------------------------
Arcade in the home. Play all your favourite arcade games in your lounge.

2009 reality: the arcade is dead because of dream 2. Nice work. but the home machines have nothing to aspire too...

Dream 3 of the 1990s. (Trips side-quest?)
-------------------------------------------------
Family entertainment. Let's face it, 3DOs party games were as visionary as the Wii's. Like them or (completely and utterly) hate them, they are here to stay.

2009 reality: The Wii romps home and all the developers chase after it like a bitch on heat.


So what's the logical conclusion to all of this?

Multimedia.
-------------
Well, i guess, unless Sony performs some sort of miracle, the multimedia dream is dead. It's not mainstream enough and it's always going to be too expensive. By it's very definition. Also, you will never separate a games machine from a multimedia device. It's never been done successfully. You can't do it. Laser Disc? 3DO? CDi? PS3? 360? 15 years of practice, with the greatest minds in the world, let's assume my assumption is right. It cannot be done. Let's get over it. Let's move on.

(Arcade) Games.
-------------------
Now video arcades are in the home. Good. And we can see where this is going. It's obvious:

Games, because of the scale of the projects required, cost a fortune to make. Millions of dollars.

Remember Wing Commander 3 costing $6million? Small potatoes today. (still was another 3DO first, and a taste of the future)

Costing so much money to make, the risks for developers are high, the less likely they are going to want to be taking chances so the games get more mainstream and effectively dumber. Think I'm kidding?

RE5 - dumber/easier than RE4
MGS4 - dumber/easier than MGS1,2 (maybe 3)
Ace Combat 6 - dumber/easier than Ace Combat 1 - 5
Halo 3...

and so on.

I love Weekend at Bernies, it's a great film, but it's no Jaws and no 2001. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Every game released this gen has been Weekend at Bernies and we, as hardcore gamers, are still waiting for our 2001 moment.

Every game released this gen has been very average. Good, but unfulfilling perhaps? None challenging? Safe?

Now, while dumb-little-Johnny gets to finish the game, it does mean the games are losing their reward. Eventually, and you can mark my words on this, everyone will lose interest. It just becomes boring.

Family Entertainment.
--------------------------

Definitely a fad. The Wii has changed nothing. Like the 2600 before it. Why? What do families like to do? The suggestion is prior to the Wii they played cards, monopoly and twister. No they didn't. They argued, watched TV and some of them got drunk. This is what they are still doing.

Come Wii2 the question will be asked "Why do we need another one? We never used the old one." If the Wii concept isn't dead by Wii2, it will be dead by Wii3. The consumer market is too fickle, and takes too long to forget.

So what dream is next? What's left? I reckon it's all going to end in tears. Unless another 3DO vision rises from the depths....

Come back Trip we need yooooooou!

3DOKid.

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Post by mattyg » Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:36 pm

We've agreed to disagree on a number of points but this time by and large I'm in your corner Kid!
Why is multimedia failing in consoles....again? because this is the domain of the PC
Regardless of how many units the console makers sell they,ll never reach the critical mass that the PC now enjoys. Anyone remember , Funk & Wagnalls , Britannica et al ? Wikipaedia is our weapon of choice now .
People will pay a premium for a PC and as the numbers of compatible flat panels in homes increases so are the number of PC's with TV Tuners and recording software.
Console manufacturers are forgetting once again that their customers just want to plug in and play - - no complex menu systems just to get to the game you inserted , no having to download the latest update and no ridiculously long initial loads. We do like to see in our consoles DVD playback , music playback , downloadable games and content (not fix it patches) and online play but that's about it.
If the manufacturers suspect we may want more ,then make the system upgradable instead of an inflated price for stuff we dont use.
As for the wii.....well the $64000 question is does Nintendo have the R&D resources? I mean it's just a gamecube with a powerglove. As much money as they are making they are still no Microsoft or Sony. Both the CD-i and the Playstation were born out of Nintendo's lack of resources attempting to harness Philips and Sonys CD drive expertise. I suspect the real reason the N64 was cartridge based was because Nintendo didn't know at that stage how to make a CD drive work in their machine. This leaves the Wii in a very precarious position - already the hardware is being maxed out. Resi 4 looks and plays great but no release date yet for Resi 5 or SF4. Anybody remember the Amiga's attempt at SF2 ...ouch..

I've said this before we need another Dark Ages - another almighty crash so the natural order is restored - games and consoles are now just a commodity that has become stagnate , unfortunately the marketing men and the bean counters are ensuring that we are being fed the equivelent of gaming fast food - "we promise you'll love our treat of the week (please insert overhyped game title here) and whilst you'll love it at the time we promise you'll feel empty and unfulfilled afterwards!"
"new flavour next week (please insert overhyped game title here)"

I am not a happy camper

I will continue to download classics on my Wii though as its a good emulator but folks that's about it.
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3DO is dead , long live 3DO
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Post by awbacon » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:13 am

So I am completely new to the forum. Always read, but never registered until reading this post. Just made me want to put my two cents in, and become active on the boards.

For a little backstory , I was an original 3DO owner when I convinced my father (I was about 13 at the time) that it was going to be the machine to have. (having a father who played games almost as much as I did, it was an easy sell) Bought one at full retail value, and never regretted it. I developed an almost unhealthy fascination w/ Killing Time , and it still remains my favorite game today. (I play and beat it yearly)

Of course the 3DO failed on pretty much every promise outside of gaming it made. I never saw a VCD add-on in any store, never used it as a cd player (at that point I remember we had one in our house , and I believe most people I knew did as well so I cant imagine people used it much as such) or any other feature. It was an extremely overpriced game console w/ features never utilized, yet ultimately paid for in the purchase price

Simply put...I purchased and played games on it! And for the most part I have enjoyed 3DO completely.

Fast forward, and I have every system from 3DO / Jaguar gen to current gen...and I 100% agree that the 3DO was the grandfather of modern gaming...

Except without the mandatory installs and constant firmware updates! My PS3 is either always updating games, requiring firmware updates, or something else that always makes me wait upwards to 30 minutes to get some playtime in. Just two weeks ago I turned on Street Fighter 2 HD and needed to download a 300mb file before I could play.

And it is chock full of features I dont touch. I dont listen to music on it. I dont look at photos on it. I dont install linux on it. I dont read the internet on it. I JUST WANT TO PLAY GAMES ON IT , AND EVEN THEN ITS HARD SOME DAYS TO PLAY!

I feel that things have only gotten worse and consoles have progressed. The 360 is a bit better w/ Netflix streaming, but consoles have gone from a device purely for playing a game, to a 'Swiss Army Knife' for your living room...too many things you never use, yet you always pay for.

So in that respect, I feel that the 3DO was a harbinger for bad ideas on the horizon. Of course its great to be able to have a game console that can stream Netflix, but its not what I pay for.

Thats why I love my 3DO / Neo-Geo generation consoles. Its pure gaming, without all the peripheral distractions.

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Post by awbacon » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:18 am

I also agree on the feeling that the Wii, while a huge success , has the potential to completely tank in its second generation (Wii 2, or whatever they may choose to call it)

I own a Wii , and everytime I look at the release wall at my local game store, I am almost embarrassed at the sheer amount of crap that gets published onto the system. Finding a good Wii release is damn near impossible.

Yet how many parents buy these subpar games for their children, who grow up playing subpar games, who accept them as fun? How long before companies come up w/ an angle to sell consoles (motion control) and everyone buys and plays terrible games because its what they grew up on?

The Nintendo seal on my Wii games is a joke!

On a side note...I love my Wii, and my PS3, and every other console I own. Im certainly not one to hate on any platform or genre of gaming. Just throwing my two cents in there.

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Post by mattyg » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:22 am

Welcome to the boards!
I am guilty of having and using the FMV adapter at the time and of using mine for music - My entertainment system was made up of seperate components and to save space I didn't buy a seperate CD player as the 3Do was exceptional at this and my first CD player was my CD32 anyway!

I had just moved out of home however and if I was still there it is unlikely that I would have used it for music as my family had a CD player for that.

My sentiments exactly on the download / loading times for current gen consoles. :)
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3DO is dead , long live 3DO
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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:15 am

We really are travelling back in time to the mid-nineties here. 3DO vs PC? 360/PS3 vs PC? The equivalent PC will cost more. For sure. And then, will it do the same? Will it do the same games and is it too complex? I haven't followed the PC for years, but a quick search reveals that a half decent graphics card is twice the price of a 360. PC is still more complex than a 360/PS3/Wii for a lot of people.

The extra irony is, i used my 3DO/PS3 for all their multimedia capabilities.

The best multimedia bit, of this generation, has been the streaming media but that, surely, will be integrated into the TV one day? OLED TV's will need something to bulk them up, won't they? ;)

To address Nintendos strategy. A re-jigging of old technology, smartening it up, and pushing back out of the door is a valid engineering strategy. How long did the industry use the motorola 68000? How many cars are running around with new number plates and have 1990s designed engines in them? It makes sense, keeps the price down, keeps things reliable. And I appreciate that.

It just doesn't sit well with me for a damned games console.

For years we looked at games machines (Arcade, consoles, PCs, 3DO, etc) and gone, "WOW TEH FUTURE". With this gen I've not been impressed once. Not once have I been staggered. I believe games consoles should be the bleeding-edge....

Enough moaning, this is what I want:

I want from a games console this: to see the awesome mega power of the micro-chips inside them. And to see the future. I want to stand, agog, drooling at the amazing super power of the machines. I want a billion spaceships, polygons, cars and boobs, flying this way and that. I want my involvement to be a bashing of a maximum of 4 buttons. You can take online, with it's: You are ranked #1,291,392nd and shove it up your backside. I want to be #1. I wanted to be addicted and impressed. How hard is that?

That's all I want. It's very simple. I haven't been addicted to a game in this generation. What's that about?

The games industry has been distracted by several things.

1) The Wii. (only Nintendo can do this, because if anyone else tries it will be a copy and everyone will be cynical. Sony and MS would do better simply ignoring it - which is what they have been doing.)

2) Online. It seems to me that game developers can't make half decent AI routines, they think fine, stick the game online and make the jobless-cheating-soap-dodging masses the masters of the gaming universe. Because there is no damn-way, you can get a half decent ranking without abandoning some aspect of normal human life.

3) The whole industry (Nintendo excluded) spends too much time re-inventing the wheel. There was nothing wrong with Ray Crisis or Time Crisis or Star Wars arcade, just throw better graphics at them and some flashy gimmicks and be done with it.

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Post by awbacon » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 pm

"To address Nintendos strategy. A re-jigging of old technology, smartening it up, and pushing back out of the door is a valid engineering strategy. How long did the industry use the motorola 68000? How many cars are running around with new number plates and have 1990s designed engines in them? It makes sense, keeps the price down, keeps things reliable. And I appreciate that"

The issue w/ that, I think, is that sooner or later reworking old tech ends up cutting your customer base with each new generation of 'old tech'.

The Wii 2 is more graphically enhanced, but still a bit behind the curve. It sells, has a handful of good games, ends up in 2nd place in the console war.

The Wii 3 is the same as the Wii 2, just prettier and more gadgets. Still the same shovelware...it ends up in 3rd place

Before you realize it, nobody is buying a Wii anymore because they see it as just 'a refresh' with no real new ideas.

I chalk it up a bit to the issues the US car manufacturers are having. They kept refreshing models year after year. A new body style here, nav system there, but the underlying tech and design were late 90's / early 2000's.

They bet that people would continue to buy what they were selling, and now its talking misserably!

So thats my concern for something like the Wii. Very interesting the first time around, but a few more generations removed from the original, and its just a rehash with prettier graphics

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Post by UnholyTancred » Thu Apr 02, 2009 6:37 pm

3DOKid wrote:We really are travelling back in time to the mid-nineties here. 3DO vs PC? 360/PS3 vs PC? The equivalent PC will cost more. For sure. And then, will it do the same? Will it do the same games and is it too complex? I haven't followed the PC for years, but a quick search reveals that a half decent graphics card is twice the price of a 360. PC is still more complex than a 360/PS3/Wii for a lot of people.
Not true dude. My Nvidia 9800 GTX+ cost me $200 and it's a very solid card. I can run just about everything on max settings at 1920 x 1080 resolution at fullspeed other than Crysis which averages around 25-30.

Maybe prices are different in the UK but the most expensive graphics card is the GTX 295 which is $500. $100 more than the core PS3 package and $200 over the Pro 360.

I wanted to upgrade to the GTX 265 or 280 but those go for around $250-300 and only a small 10% increase over my card. Simply not worth it. Besides I can't even tell the difference between 40-50 FPS and 60. Only when it dips below 30 can I tell.

I built my PC myself in November '08 for $700. Then I spent another $200 on a 22" widescreen monitor. I also upgraded it a bit in February this year (which was completely unnecessary). If you do it yourself, you can easily make yourself a budget high end PC.
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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:16 pm

Actually you are right. About £137.00. Which is $200.00 or near enough (The days of them doing $200 = £200 seem to over thank goodness!)

You and I can build and PC, probably everyone on this board can, but the great unwashed can't. And I don't think many people, outside the hardcore, use PC as a gaming device. Certainly, I imagine huge swathes of Wii owning demographic never either play games on the PC or can build one. I imagine a lot of them had PS1s too.

But it does depend on what you are shooting for. The PS3 comes with teeny (and pointless) HDD which is cheap, but it's graphics potential is good and one area it wins out, it's deadly silent (get's noiser the more dust it's gathered) but usually it's silent. Silence on a PC is pretty expensive. It's not great for the lounge.

PC gaming is an ever increasing minority too. (this is not a good thing) I just don't think PC gaming has even a fighting chance anymore.

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Post by Lemmi » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:16 pm

heh in 2003 i paid $350 to put my computer together and $170 for a 17inch monitor but not at the same time my old 15inch monitor blew up about 2 months after i put the computer together

i played everquest on the PC from 1999 to 2002 and then i played maybe 4 other games on the 433i 256ram 4GB hard drive computer

but since i put this one together ive only played online mini/flash games like putt putt, so when i put this one together i didnt even bother with a videocard. so since 2003 ive only had a 64mb onboard videocard :D
i do have a 512mb videocard in a box but it wont fit this motherboard

i dont own a Wii or 360/ps3/ps2 and never will as im done with modern videogame systems, hell i dont even own a controller for the computer ;)
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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:28 pm

Lemmi wrote:heh in 2003 i paid $350 to put my computer together and $170 for a 17inch monitor but not at the same time my old 15inch monitor blew up about 2 months after i put the computer together

i played everquest on the PC from 1999 to 2002 and then i played maybe 4 other games on the 433i 256ram 4GB hard drive computer

but since i put this one together ive only played online mini/flash games like putt putt, so when i put this one together i didnt even bother with a videocard. so since 2003 ive only had a 64mb onboard videocard :D
i do have a 512mb videocard in a box but it wont fit this motherboard

i dont own a Wii or 360/ps3/ps2 and never will as im done with modern videogame systems, hell i dont even own a controller for the computer ;)
There is the spirit. :D

I have a pad for my PC I'm ashamed to say - but I never used it much.

My PC kept over heating, so I took the case off (as much as I could) and removed the graphics card too, to keep it cool. I have no idea how much RAM my onboard card has...

[goes off to check] :D

128Mb RAM (big show off aint I?) :D

I've said it before, I'll say it again: There is no single compelling reason to own either a Wii, 360 or PS3. I firmly believe that the best generation for games was the last one: (GC, Xbox, PS2 and DC) and the most exciting was the 3DO, Jag, CD32, etc... (down-hill since then really!)

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Post by UnholyTancred » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:04 am

3DOKid wrote:PC gaming is an ever increasing minority too. (this is not a good thing) I just don't think PC gaming has even a fighting chance anymore.
I agree and it's incredibly sad. Most of the PC games are console ports unfortunately.

PC exclusive games are rare, hard to come by, and usually end up being RTS games (Company of Heroes, World in Conflict, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War).

But I did finish playing The Witcher last night at 4 in the morning. I've been playing it for the past 2 weeks nonstop and I have to say it is one of the greatest games I've ever played and would rate it a perfect 10/10. I felt incredibly empowered playing a PC only game and how the n00b console gamers will never play anything even remotely good.

Then I found out that they're developing a dumbed down console version of this game that's due out this year for the 360 and PS3.

UGH!!!!!

I got a 360 very recently and I just don't know what to play on it. I've already played superior versions of the same games on PC, not enjoying the majority of them. The only game I own so far is Dead Rising and it's above average. I'm halfway through and not really interested. 7.2/10 max. I ordered the Sonic The Hedgehog game, the one that was panned universally, and should be getting it in a couple of days. Hell, I'm a Sega fanboy and it's not available on PC. Only reason why I'm getting it.
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Post by awbacon » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:28 am

I felt incredibly empowered playing a PC only game and how the n00b console gamers will never play anything even remotely good.
I def understand the thought of 'noob' console gamers thinking the newest Call of Duty or Crysis is the pinnacle of gaming experiences. Most of them didnt grow up playing NES Zelda for months , or playing Doom on a brand new PC purchased just for the game itself.

Simple fact is that PC is a dying format , and since I am a 100% mac user (filmmaker, need the tech) , gaming on a computer stopped after Half Life for me.

Current games, for the most part, pretty much suck. The last game I played of the current gen and was enthralled with was MGS4, and its because of the presentation and story, not the graphics or revolutionary gameplay involved.

Good example...I have RE5. Been playing it, been enjoying it, totally could have skipped it and not missed much about it. Its a solid game, but its not amazing, and it sure as hell doesnt break any conventions of gaming itself.

Back when 3DO / Jaguar were throwing their hats in the ring, it was anyones game. Companies had to compete with new concepts and games to win user base.

Now what? 90% of all the top games are on PS3 / 360...and the exclusives? Big deal...not console sellers at all.

I do have to admit though I have a PS3 and a 360, only cause I could afford them. But did I buy them for their innovation? Hell no...I bought them because I am a really involved gamer who doesnt want to miss anything.

But yeah...I miss the days of 3DO / Jag / CD-I / Genesis / Super Nintendo...when developers and companies really took chances with their hardware and their tech. Now its completely streamlined, and I wonder if I will even be interested in a PS4 / 720

on a side note, I owe Sony and the PS3 a huge thank you! One day I was sitting in Wal-Mart...looking at a PS3 and LittleBigPlanet. I had quit smoking 4 days ago, and was almost ready to buy a pack and have a cigarette.

Instead I bought a PS3 and LittleBigPlanet, and played for days on end. Before I knew it...I didnt want that cigarette so bad.

I havent had a cigarette in 6 months, and I swear video games helped me through! hahaha

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Post by 3DOKid » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:45 am

What I'm nervous about is the next gen.

The Microsoft 36ii and the Sony PSii. (oh good grief) (They will be released at $99 and will look suspiciously like a Xbox and PS2 - mark my words.)

I think the difference between this generation and the best generation is:

The mid-nineties back in the day of 3DO, Arcade and PS1 was driven by firstly personalities (Trip Hawkins, Ken Kutaragi, Yu Suzuki, David Braben, RJ Mical) who lead the market by telling us explicitly what we wanted. They had the vision and we all wanted what they told us to want.

...and then this generation which has almost no personalities and the games are dictated by customer focus groups and what they perceive the consumer wants. Fact is, consumers are idiots who don't know what they want. The real problem is the amount of money involved. No one will take risks.

The exception, I guess is Nintendo but they have never made the types of games I like.

PS3 helped me quit smoking? You will replace sack boy if you aren't careful. ;) Big 200feet square posters of you on the walls.

I'm with you to an extent on MGS4. MGS4 was a tribute to MGS1,2 and 3. And all the MGS fanboys - me included - loved it to death. Everyone else pretty much hated it for all it's flaws. It wasn't that removed from the original. (good though wasn't it? Including the ending :) )

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Post by awbacon » Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:14 pm

Fist fight / Liquid during the end was hands down one of the most impressive moments in gaming for me

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Post by mattyg » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:42 am

PC gaming is an ever increasing minority too. (this is not a good thing) I just don't think PC gaming has even a fighting chance anymore.
20 million WOW players may send you hate mail!

I use the PC for gaming a lot - Medievel Total War , Civilisation IV , Age of Empires III - Consoles just cant do these games - Civilisation Revolution is an abomination.

Yes my PC's struggle in the australian heat - I run at least six fans and remove the covers on hot days but I find them no noisier than a PS3 - before I stopped working in an electronics store I can tell you the return rate due to overheating for PS3s was quite high. That"quiet" little fan does not like our climate - the same thing was happening to the cheaper Blu Ray players that were sans fans,
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3DO is dead , long live 3DO
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Post by 3DOKid » Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:27 pm

mattyg wrote:
PC gaming is an ever increasing minority too. (this is not a good thing) I just don't think PC gaming has even a fighting chance anymore.
20 million WOW players may send you hate mail!

I use the PC for gaming a lot - Medievel Total War , Civilisation IV , Age of Empires III - Consoles just cant do these games - Civilisation Revolution is an abomination.

Yes my PC's struggle in the australian heat - I run at least six fans and remove the covers on hot days but I find them no noisier than a PS3 - before I stopped working in an electronics store I can tell you the return rate due to overheating for PS3s was quite high. That"quiet" little fan does not like our climate - the same thing was happening to the cheaper Blu Ray players that were sans fans,
Don't, please, get me started on WOW.

Thing is PC gaming doesn't get air time. The mags are only interested in Nintendo/Sega and a nod to MS. Anything else, just forget it.

Medievel Total War was awesome.
Command and Conquer III was awesome.

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Post by mattyg » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:40 pm

Don't, please, get me started on WOW
I agree those guys are in a class of their own.......but with little air and mag time they still have 20 million subscriptions
Medievel Total War was awesome
yes it was! and I am lucky enough to have the limited edition set with the beutifully presented book, maps and making of DVD! but civ IV for me is the most addictive game ever and easily gets around 16 hours out of me each week.
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Post by UnholyTancred » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:07 pm

My 360 is actually louder than my 3 foot tall case with 5 case fans, a fan on the power supply, fan on the GPU, and a CPU heatsink the size of an infant's skull.

I swear that heatsink is dead silent unless I blast it up 100% which is pointless because it surprisingly only shaves off 1 degree from CPU temp.

I was thinking there's a problem with my 360. It is after all refurbished and I've very paranoid about these things.

Then I watched this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gonYRviSDNg

And laughed my ass off. My 360 is just as loud as his.
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Post by 3DOKid » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:53 pm

I bought my 360 second hand and it got louder with the new fan. My RROD'd so i fixed, it the RROD'd again, and I fixed it again. MS won't help me becasue the box is registered to someone else. :(

My 360 is louder than my PC too. In fact, because of my job I have 6 PC's of varying quality and size and a network switch and if I turn them all on, the 360 can still be heard. The only thing I have is a custom piece of network hardware (the company I work for makes) it is designed to run 5Gbs, and has an array of fans hanging off-of the back, and it, just, is more noisy than my 360.

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Post by BryWI » Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:02 pm

I find that in my 360, the white ones that first started to have hdmi, is only loud because of the dvd drive. With the newer updates and the ability to copy the game to the HD, it is much quieter. But I will hear the fan kick up every now and then.

EDIT: just watched that vid, he is practicly running the thing in a closed box, thats why its so loud. let the thing breathe :/

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Post by UnholyTancred » Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:40 pm

I installed Sonic The Hedgehog to the HD and for me it's the fan noise.

It's loud as hell even on the dashboard. When playing gaming using the DVD drive it gets a bit louder, but not by much.

EDIT - AH!

I just realized this little line of text I missed out on the auction that I got the 360 from:

"The system has been refurbished to factory specs. In addition, the fans have been upgraded to provide better airflow through the system to prevent overheating. Due to the upgrade the fan is louder than usual systems."

Interesting. Any way to make it not sound like a wind tunnel?
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Post by 3DOKid » Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:44 pm

Stump a couple more hundred dollars, spray it black and write the word "Sony"on it in Spiderman font?

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Post by awbacon » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:20 pm

my 360 is suprisingly quiet, although it was only manufactured about a year back.

I owned a launch 360 that had RROD , and it was louder than the fan I had running at full blast all through the summer

Still..Microsoft seems to be getting better w/ their hardware

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Post by 3DOKid » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:49 pm

They've had plenty of practice. ;)

(that said, they can't get their OS's right ;) )

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